When the next space shuttle blasts off for the first time since the Columbia tragedy shocked the nation, the spirit of Queens will ride with one member of the crew charged with breathing life back into America’s space program.

For Ozone Park native Charles Camarda, the mission marks the end of a lifelong quest.

Although he’s been with NASA since 1974, the launch will be his first trip to space.

The magnitude of the mission – the first since the catastrophe that destroyed Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003 – isn’t lost on Camarda, 52.

“It’s absolutely critical that we go flying,” he said by phone from Houston. “From a morale point of view, this will be a tremendous boost for the agency.”

His mother agrees, but admits that the shuttle program’s troubled history has her concerned.

I’m scared, but I try not to show him,” Ray Camarda, 78, said. “When I wanted to send him to the moon when he was kid, I meant it like Jackie Gleason, she said. “I never thought it would come to this.”